Ichigo was visiting the Soul Society to check on Rukia. He had stopped the execution, but he was still concerned. Aizen was still out there somewhere and Ichigo was sure that no one was safe as long as Aizen was free. Rukia seemed conflicted. Ichigo sensed she was glad to be alive and yet she had been opposed to being reescued.
As usual they were arguing about something trivial. They could hardly say hello sometimes without starting a debate. Ichigo was mid-shout when he first felt it.
"What do you mean I shouldn't be here?! If it wasn't for me you-" Ichigo stopped his diatribe and quickly asked "Did you feel that just now?"
Rukia nodded, "Yes. This is the most intense spiritual pressure I've ever felt!"
"You think it's Aizen?" Ichigo asked but before the words even left his mouth he realized it wasn't.
"No, Aizen's spiritual pressure had a different...feel to it than this. But that raises an important question."
"Yeah, if it's not Aizen then who is it?" Ichigo shrugged his shoulders before saying, "I'll just go stop them, doesn't matter who it is." He ran off outside even as he spoke.
"Ichigo, wait!" Rukia yelled out after him, but by then he was already gone.
As he ran up the hill the spiritual pressure centered around Ichigo realized that it was the same hill that Rukia had nearly been executed on. Whatever was going on was happening at the top of Sokyoku Hill. Ichigo suppressed a small laugh, it seemed that every other day something was going on here.
As he neared the top of the hill Ichigo began to notice the sound of clanging metal. So either there was a superpowered blacksmith up here or there was a fight going on. Ichigo suspected it was the the latter.
When he finally did reach the top Ichigo could hardly believe what he saw.
"What the Hell?!" Ichigo mutterred.
The apex of the hill looked as though a nuke had gone off. In the epicenter of the destruction stood two men Ichigo didn't recognize. On the left stood a tall man with long silver hair and a sword nearly twice the length of a standard Zanpaku-to. He was wearing a black and silver trench coat with boots and gloves to match.
To the right was a man with hair so dark it shone blue in the was dressed almost like a Soul Reaper except for a few hints of red. He was roughly the same height as the other man. His sword was longer than the average Zanpaku-to but not nearly as long as the other man's.
Neither man looked like a Soul Reaper so naturally Ichigo yelled," Hey! What the hell are you guys doing?!"
The black haired man turned to face Ichigo and as he did Ichigo noticed a thin scar crossing over his left eye. The stranger yelled, "Stay back, Soul Reaper! This does not concern you!"
The silver haired man smirked, "Why do you try to stop him, Dengen? Let him come, he poses no threat to either of us. If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to protect him. Don't bother. Once I kill you then this world is next."
The silver haired man's voice turned Ichigo's blood to ice. What he said just made it that much worse. He was discussing mass murder and genocide as casually as if he were talking about the weather. Ichigo swallowed and screamed, "What have these people done to deserve to die?!"
"You sound upset." The silver haired man replied, "Don't be. These people must die so that they may serve their true purpose."
The other man - Dengen- roared, "As if I'd let that happen! I'll never let you desecrate the souls of dead just to feed your own vanity, Sephiroth!"
Ichigo didn't understand what they were talking about but he guessed that Sephiroth was a bad guy. He wasn't sure about Dengen, but right now Sephiroth was the problem and that was all that mattered.
Ichigo drew Zangetsu and ran toward Sephiroth but Dengen cut him off and said, "Don't try to be a hero. Sephiroth is way more than you can handle."
"It doesn't matter," Ichigo answered, "I can't run away just because he's stronger than me. He's trying to kill us all so I have to fight him. It's that simple."
Ichigo charged in toward Sephiroth and yelled, "Getsugatensho!" A blue crescent-moon shaped blast of energy erupted from Ichigo's sword and shot toward the silver haired villian. Sephiroth didn't even try to avoid the attack. With a deafening boom it collided with Sephiroth and exploded.
Dust hung in the air for a few seconds before Sephiroth's icy voice split the silence, "Is that all?"
And then Sephiroth cleaved through the dust with a single swing of his oversized sword instanteously clearing the air. He then shook his head and said, "Pathetic. I will enjoy crushing your worthless dreams."
A few minutes later Ichigo was still trying to hurt Sephiroth anyway he could, but nothing seemed to work. Sephiroth was toying with him, trying to crush his spirit before killing him.
Where the hell is Dengen? Ichigo thought, Why isn't he helping right now? As if in response to his thoughts Ichigo heard Dengen yell, "Obliterate!"
Ichigo barely had time to think before a massive bolt of lightning struck directly inbetween him and Sephiroth with such force it knocked him out cold.